"Please Marcus, we've been trying to get you back on track but you just won't put in any effort! Now, I understand you must have gone through a lot while you were... away, but that's all over now! It's time to put this all behind us and move on! You had so many colleges looking..." she droned on for a while longer as Marcus stared absently, hardly listening.
Two and a half years ago, if his mother had come in to lecture him about putting in more of an effort for college, he'd have used it as the perfect opportunity to leverage something for himself. He'd have a list of demands that had to be met before he agreed not to 'throw his life away', as his parents loved to say. Looking back on all that now seemed so pointless; not just the material items or trips or money he used to care so much about, but college too. His family couldn't understand. They didn't even want to discuss the time he spent stuck on an island, isolated from the entire world except for Reece.
"Marcus!" His mother's piercing voice snapped him back to the present moment. "I have had enough of this ridiculousness. You aren't even trying to catch up on your studies! Isn't there anything you want, isn't there some way we can put this all behind us?"
He was silent, he knew what he wanted and it wasn't a stupid car or anything like that. That would've been so much easier to ask for, but no, he knew how his mother would react if he tried to ask to see Reece. Instead, he turned away from her, looking down at the floor. She put a hand on his shoulder only for him to move away from her touch. He could hear her breath hitch as she got up from the bed to leave.
"I just want my son back." The door shut behind her.
He laid down on his bed and stared up at his ceiling, wishing he could find some way to see Reece again, even if it was just once. He needed to see him, to talk to him, to see how he was doing. Marcus wouldn't have made it out of there alive if not for him and no one in his life even seemed to care.
When he first woke up on the beach, he was coughing sea water up out of his lungs. Once he finally looked up, he saw a figure standing over him with their face framed by the sun shining around long, curly brown hair, he'd remembered his pastor talking in his sermons about guardian angels.
"You good, man?" The figure put a hand out to help him up, "You been knocked out all day, did you hit your head?" Marcus took the person's hand to get up, suddenly aware of the pounding in the back of his head.
Once he got his bearings, Marcus looked around, realising it was just the two of them there. "What.. the fuck.. happened.. Where are we?"
Reece introduced himself and brought Marcus over to the fire pit he'd made and began recounting the story of how they'd gotten there as he prepared a fish that he'd got from a nearby creek.
As more weeks passed, the less Marcus left his room, though he was barely sleeping. He couldn't face his family's nagging and constant insistence that he simply 'get over' the last two and a half years of his life and the boy who helped him to survive.
He wasn't sure why he and Reece had never thought to exchange numbers or social media handles or even last names in case they were ever found and rescued and separated. He supposed that it just didn't seem like a pressing issue at the time, and the longer they were there, the less convinced they were of ever being rescued so they never felt the need to. Even still, he wished that they had. What he did know, however, was that his parents knew Reece's family and where they lived.
He'd been thinking of asking to see him since that talk with his mother a few weeks prior and finally decided to just go for it.
"Oh, well look who's come out to join his family! You'd think after all that time apart of missing him and worrying about him that we'd get to see him more but hey, who cares about poor ol' mom and dad anyway?" His dad was laying on the guilt thick, but it didn't work. He couldn't find it in himself to care about or even truly believe in what his dad was saying. All he could think about was Reece. He was starting to feel that maybe Reece was the only person he'd ever known who'd ever actually cared about him.
"I want to go see Reece."
"Oh, I guess I was wrong, he doesn't want to spend time with us, he wants to spend time with that-that kid! Didn't he get enough time with you while you were gone?! Gallivanting off on some tropical island, getting a free vacation away from any and all responsibilities?! You are an ungrateful brat, after everything we did to get you back, all the stress and the worrying and the money and it's like you don't even want to be back with us! Your family! After everything we've done for you, everything we've paid for, after all the boats and the cars and the designer clothes and your little boys' trips! Now, all we ever hear about is this Reece." His father's face grew redder as he yelled louder. "Did Reece pay for you to have a private jet fly you out to Italy for your 12th birthday? Did Reece pay extra to have you put in the top private schools in the country? Did Reece put a roof over your head-"
"Yes." His father stood silent, stunned seemingly to have gotten a response at all.
"I beg your pardon?" His mother spoke up, finally joining in after watching this all unfold.
"I said yes, he did. He put a roof over my head that protected us from the rain and the sun. He fed us. He made us clothes and taught me how to make my own. He taught me how to make a fire and hunt. He didn't have to pay for anything, there was nothing to pay for! He didn't even have to keep me alive, he could have left me to die and used me for meat and leather. But he didn't. He helped me survive and taught me how to do it on my own."
"No, that boy did not keep you alive, God kept you alive so you could come back to us." His mother stood up, walking over to him with her arms outstretched. "Don't you understand that even if that boy helped you, it's only because God sent him there with you to protect you because you are special. You are meant for great things, and now that you're safe you don't have to associate yourself with... those kinds of people. You just have to thank God for protecting you, and show your gratitude for this blessing by not throwing your life away for some indigent." Marcus backed away from her, a horrified look on his face.
"Your mother's right, Marcus. You have to move on, you can't revolve your whole life around another man unless you want people thinking you're some kind of faggot."
"Winifred!" His mother scolded.
"I'm sorry Kierra but it's true. I don't want people thinking I've raised some kind of a pansy that relies on another man to survive! I see now that we spoiled you too much. Now I've heard enough of this 'Reece', if I have to listen to this nonsense again I'm gonna really give you a piece of my mind, understood?" His father waved a fist in the air that everyone in the room knew was an empty threat meant to scare and intimidate.
Marcus fought the tears in his eyes, not because of the threat but because his father's words stung. He knew he was a spoiled pansy, he knew he'd never had to work a day in his life and had never known what it meant to put real effort into anything. What he wasn't sure about was being a faggot. He knew he had very strong feelings for Reece, but he often told himself that that's just how a person would feel for someone who'd saved their life. After all, he'd never had a crush on a guy before, so why should this be one? Regardless, that wasn't something he particularly liked investigating about himself so his father's speculations struck a soft spot.
"Oh, so I must be a faggot because I want to speak to the guy who saved my life? You say God saved me? The same God that knocked me off the boat? That nearly drowned me in the ocean? If it weren't for Reece I would be dead and yet you both act like me going to see him would bring on Armageddon. It's bullshit!"
"Marcus Christopher Wynn! How dare y-"
"No! I'm sick of you both demanding me to forget what happened to me! To just move on! I almost fucking died!" He was becoming more frantic, he couldn't stay here anymore. He couldn't continue living in that phony nightmare for another second. So he did the only thing he could think to do in that moment. "One of you is gonna tell me how to find him or I'm gonna start breaking shit."
"What the hell has gotten into you? You've never spoken to us like this before," His father half whispered. Marcus didn't respond, instead, he walked out of the room and returned shortly after holding a lacrosse stick.
"Marcus? What are you doing?" His mother's eyes grew wide with shock and fear as she watched her son smash the tv repeatedly.
He stopped suddenly, thousands of tiny glass shards littered the floor, a few dozen stuck in his skin, particularly in the arm he used to cover his eyes and was also bleeding from hundreds of cuts all over himself.
"Tell me how to find him." He walked towards his parents' white leather couch while his blood dripped all over the carpet.
"Demair!" His mother blurted out just before he was near enough to drip onto the couch.
"His name is Reece Demair from Poughkeepsie, New York. Now, please! Enough with this! Oh Lord, what am I going to do? Please, Lord give me strength."
Marcus had heard enough, he grabbed the keys to his father's Ferrari and decided to drive his way to New York.
Reece carefully whittled away at a long piece of wood with a rock he'd sharpened with another rock. Marcus watched him in complete and utter awe. "How do you know how to do all this?"
He shrugged, "I used to go camping a lot."
"Camping taught you how to construct a sturdy shelter? I mean come on, look at this! You built this!" Marcus gestured around at the small structure surrounding them made up of branches, leaves, mud, and various other random items Reece had found. It was big enough for the two of them to fit inside comfortably, it had a stable roof that shielded them from the elements. All things considered, for a deserted island, they were living pretty nicely.
"I dunno man," he shrugged again, "there's not much to do where I'm from. I mean, besides drugs or fucking off to the woods with your boys and pretending to be on survivor."
Marcus tried not to laugh, "You would actually do that?"
Reece nodded, his cheeks darkening and a smile growing on his lips, "Yeah. Yeah I did," he laughed, "and I guess it's finally paid off."
"At least teach me how to do it too, that way it'll get done faster. Maybe we could even add a second floor to this place."
"Oh yeah, and a kitchen would be nice, maybe a bathroom."
The two boys roared with laughter, though neither was entirely sure what exactly was funny about their situation. What else could they do but laugh about it?
No matter how much time had passed, nothing had felt right since Reece had gotten home. Even though everything was exactly how he'd left it, he still couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that it was all real. That he was actually home again. That he would never see Marcus again.
He knew he should be happy to be home, to see his mom and his sisters again. But he wasn't. All he could think about was Marcus and how he was doing. Every day was blurred together. He hadn't even had the energy to fight his parents on going back to school right away and, of course, he's failing. Still, he can't bring himself to care.
Things were so much simpler on the island. It was like an extended camping trip with the boys, but with only one other boy there. Sure, he didn't know the first thing about camping and wasn't super keen on helping out in the beginning, but after a couple weeks he'd started to put in some effort and try... even if he was miserably bad at it.
It filled him with relentless shame and guilt to be missing the island so much. And Marcus. He knew he shouldn't, he wanted to think of him the way his mom did but he just couldn't. Marcus may have started off as some helpless yuppie, but he never looked down on Reece for who he was nor took advantage of him. He did the opposite, it felt almost like Marcus worshipped Reece for saving his life.
He wished he could see him again, that despite everything if some miracle could let him see his face again.
The doorbell rang, waking him from his daydream. He dragged himself out of bed, as the only man in the house, he was expected to be the one to answer the door.
Standing in his doorway was Marcus, sweating bullets for some reason. Reece's jaw dropped as he struggled to understand what he was seeing. It was him. His wish came true. But how? And more importantly, why was he covered in blood?
"The hell happened to you?!"
"It's a long story, but to make it short: I smashed my parents' tv so they'd tell me how to find you and I figured out the rest."
"Fuck," he whispered. "Come in."
Reece quietly snuck the bloodied boy into his bedroom to clean him up. The blood had dried many miles ago so it was a bit hard to clean off. Though, that wasn't much compared to pulling all the little shards out of Marcus' skin. In the time that it took to get every piece out, the boys recounted their weeks back in their regular lives.
"It's like they feel inconvenienced by the fact we haven't gotten over it instantly."
"Yes! My parents want me to forget about you and everything you did for me."
The two sat in silence for a moment, just looking at one another. Marcus looked at the way Reece's lamp framed his face, shining onto his brown curls just as it did in the sun when he'd first seen him. Reece's eyes danced around Marcus as he patched his wounds, careful not to hurt him too much.
"My-my father-" Marcus broke the silence abruptly, fearing the tension he felt build around them.
"My father, he-" he stumbled over his words a bit before spilling out, "he called me a faggot. He accused me of being a fag for wanting to see you." He felt his face get hot, but he couldn't rationalise to himself why. "I'm not, though! I just... I just needed to see you. I can't just forget about the island like everyone wants me to. Nobody understands except you." Reece wanted to say something but decided to just listen, "I mean, it's normal, right? We spent so much time together, it's normal that we'd want to see each other. Isn't it?"
Marcus wasn't sure why he was saying any of this, it wasn't what he meant to say but now that he was, he couldn't seem to stop himself. "It's not gay to have a close bond with the guy who saved your life-"
Reece sighed, "Chill out, bro. It's actually not that deep." He pulled Marcus closer and kissed him.
Marcus panicked, confused and terrified. 18 years of evangelical Christianity ringing in his ears, degrading and shaming him for what he felt during the kiss. His face heated up even more and he didn't even want to think about everywhere else he felt hot. He reached up to push Reece off but instead found his hand resting on the other boy's shoulder and inching its way to the back of his neck.
Reece pulled away for a moment, pressing his forehead into Marcus', "I wanted to do that so many times," he said breathlessly.
Marcus couldn't respond, his head was spinning and his heart was pounding. He had also wanted to do that, he'd just always brushed it off as being because, well, they were the only two people there, they were so close, and he already had strong feelings about Reece because he'd saved his life. It made enough sense. But now? Now he was back home again where he could wind up with any girl and yet no kiss he'd ever had with a girl had ever felt like that before. Marcus couldn't find any words so he pressed his lips against Reece's, pulling him closer by the back of his neck with his thumb cradling his jaw. Blood from his reopened cuts smeared all over Reece- who didn't seem to mind. He let go of Marcus' hand and held onto his shirt instead, where he could grip him tightly and pull him closer as well.
"Reece!" A woman's voice called from the hallway. "You better not have nobody in that room!" The door suddenly swung open with a loud 'THWAP'.
"Oh HELL no! No son of mine is gonna be with a man who can't even take care of himself! Looking down on us for how we live while my son slaves to take care of him and keep him alive! And for what?! What exactly did my Reece get out of any of it? Working twice as hard just to keep the both of you alive for a boy who's never had to work a day in his life! Now the poor thing's got Stockholm Syndrome!" Reece's mom pinched her forehead between her thumb and pointer finger, every vein in her head and neck threatened to burst.
"Don't you try and 'mom' me! I know where he comes from, I know what's happening here and I will not let my son continue to get taken advantage of by some hoity toity richie rich bitch. Not while I'm around to stop it."
Reece begged and pleaded with his mom, shielding Marcus with his body as he tried to explain what really happened, but nothing he could do was enough to stop her. She grabbed Marcus by the arm, the pain searing as she dragged him out of the room.
She sat him down in the living room, paying no mind to his injuries except to say, "If you get any of that blood on my couch I'm whooping your ass."
Before long, she was on the phone with his parents, yelling to come get their son before she called the cops to get him instead.
Years passed, and thankfully, since they knew each others' names and this was the 21st century, it was pretty easy for them to find each other online. They'd kept in touch as much as they could until both of them were able to move out on their own. With some hefty planning, the two were able to get a decent apartment away from both their families and create their own island together.
Their lives were much more boring and mundane than it was on the island and the two of them adored every second of it. Every trip to the grocery store felt like magic when going with somebody who you had to hunt to survive with. Every night out is a celebration of life. A celebration that they are both still alive and together and laughing through the days, even when they're not exactly funny.
One day, there was a knock at the door, Reece went to get it but Marcus stopped him, already much closer to the door anyhow. When it opened, the two of them were stunned to see Reece's mom and three younger sisters at the doorway. "May we come in?" Her voice was soft, like she'd been crying.
Marcus turned back to Reece, Reece nodded and Marcus stepped to the side.
"Oh Reecey baby, I'm so sorry." His mom ran inside, pulling him into a hug, "I never shoulda pushed you away, I didn't listen to you and now look what I've done, I've gone and lost my baby!" She was sobbing globs of tears down her face. "I just wanted to protect you, I never wanted to push you away." She sniffled for a bit as Reece rubbed her back. "After you left and... none of us could find you or get in touch with you and I was so scared that I'd lost my baby again after I swore I'd never let that happen and... well, your cousin Ami found Marcus' instagram and we saw this beautiful life you've built for yourselves and I realised what a horrible mistake I'd made."
"Please let us go to your gay wedding!" Serenity, his youngest sister, blurted out, causing Reece and the others to chuckle.
He hugged his mom again, but before he could respond, an ornate wedding band appeared in her hands. "What she means is, I want to give this to you, as an apology, and as my blessing." Both Marcus and Reece were too stunned to speak.
Reece took the ring slowly, "Mom, I-"
"Oh shut up and go to your man right now." His mom grinned as she gave him a slight shove towards Marcus.
Reece walked closer to Marcus and held his hand, "I-"
"What are you doing?! Get down on one knee, do it right!" Makayla, the eldest of his sisters, yelled out.
Rolling his eyes, Reece got down on one knee and looked up at his boyfriend, "Marcus, you're the light of my life. When I first found you in the water, I was terrified. Terrified of being there alone, trapped with a dead guy on a deserted island. But then you opened your eyes and I got to get to know you. I discovered the funniest, most interesting guy I'd ever met. I don't know what I would've done without you there beside me for all these years and I don't want to think of ever not having you again. Marcus Wynn, will you marry me?"
Tears flooded Marcus' eyes, "Yes!"
The girls cheered as the two fiancés kissed one another, dancing and singing in celebration. Very quickly, drinks were brought out and a long, lively night of partying had begun. Marcus sipped his drink and looked around at his new family, grinning. He wasn't sure what he expected when he saw her at the door, maybe a long lecture about the fiery flames of Hell like his mother would have done, but the last thing he expected was getting a family wedding ring and a blessing for their marriage. He wrapped an arm around Reece's neck and kissed his cheek.
He was home, he was safe, and he finally had a family that accepted him. Marcus had the best night's sleep of his life that night.
